Friday, April 7, 2017

The Magnificent First sentence or First Paragraph

Don't we all remember the above famous opening line of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?

Many authors manage to grab the attention of their readers right from the opening lines of their book.

Some begin with a fascinating opening line; some others have a magnificent first paragraph.

Before I buy any book, I read the first paragraph/ page of the book. I know many others who do this as well.

As a writer, we can always try and follow this technique. I usually work on it during the final edit of my manuscript.

Many of my author friends emphasize the importance they place on a great opening line as well.

Let us check some examples from some famous works. These are my personal favorites.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

~Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”

12 comments:

Yes to Tolstoy. One of my fav first lines! Aside from being thought-provoking, it's total quote-material. :)

When I'm running through my 1st draft I don't bother with the "perfect" first line. But once I'm in revision mode, I start fine-tuning. SO I'm ready to tackle that first line (and all the other lines after it)!

yes, that austen book is definitely memorable and it was redone in a few other books. I like Jane Eyre's first few lines which I can't remember it but I used to.

I also read the first few sentences and sometimes paragraphs before I can decide whether I want to read a book. this usually works because there is so much a writer can put in those few first sentences.

I believe in and try to follow this , Preethi. There are so many choices open to readers these days that you have only 1 chance to grab their attention. I am loving this series and your theme. Keep going!:)Mayuri